Scriptural Rosary is the best way to get children to participate. Under age 4, I wouldn’t get my hopes up. All you can really do there is tell them to be quiet. 5 and up should be actively saying the prayers. If your children don’t know the words, then put them on the spot by making them say the first half periodically, until they are comfortable and can say it without stumbling on the words. If they can already read it’s even better. Just hand them the book and tell them to lead one of the decades. It’s easier on Sunday if they just heard the story during the Gospel that week. I’ve found that really helps. Make sure you use the type that has a meditation for every Hail Mary. That’s better than the simple form. You can’t really expect them to stay focused if all they hear is Hail Mary after Hail Mary. That’s what it sounds like to them.
I agree wholeheartedly, but disagree about the age. My mother told me that my grandmother use to hold me daily, in her rocking chair as she prayed the Rosary out loud in the afternoon, from the time I was an infant. Later, I remember waking up in the morning to the prayers of my mother and grandmother together praying the Rosary and I joined them, by the time I was three I knew the entire Rosary and as I continued to pray and get older I learned how to mediatate on the mysteries. My grandmother prayed the ENTIRE Rosary, in other words, she prayed it three times a day, in the morning upon awakening, in the afternoon, and every evening, one Rosary for each of the Mysteries, (Joyful, Glorious, and Sorrowful, as we didn’t have the Luminous back then.) If we did, I would imagine that she would have prayed those before going to bed for the evening.
Our family continued with the daily Rosary after dinner/supper, in the evenings, even after my grandmother’s passing. I think my mother prayed the Rosary daily her entire life. She was named for Mary and Joseph, her name was Mary Josephine and she sure was a holy, prayerful lady. Daily prayer is still very important to me too. Having prayer instilled in one since birth does make a difference. We were also taught the morning offering. Plus a prayer for our guardian angels assistance: Angel of God, my guardian dear, to whom Gods love commits me here. Ever this day be at my side, to light, to guard, to rule and guide. Amen.
My grandchildren, even the little one’s already know the prayers of the Rosary, even though they don’t yet know how to properly mediatate on the Mysteries. They don’t always pray it daily but they do say at least one Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be to the Father…and the St. Michael the Archangel prayer before bed. (my daughter told me that once, they were all falling asleep as they prayed, they had had a later than usual bedtime and she was convinced that they were all asleep before they got to the Glory Be)…so, she started walking out of the room and my three year old grandson sat straight up in his little youth bed, eyes wide open and announced out loud: “You forgot to say the devil prayer where the angel helps God keep him away from us”!!!
…she didn’t try to skip that one again.
The older ones pray more often daily, and they all know that they can speak with Jesus in their heart and head any time during the course of their day.
. Even though sometimes people do fall away, I think that this is true: “Bring them up in the way that they should go and they will not depart from it”. Pray without ceasing is pretty much how I conduct my own life.
As to this gator(name removed by moderator): instilling in them a sense of reverence–if they act up, just quietly remind them that you all are speaking to God right now and that they ought to be quiet like that in Church too (or if they are already quiet in Church, just say, like we are in Church.)
